Video Library: How a Company Sale Is Run, From First Meeting to Closing

By Michael D. Rubin, CEO & Founder · Updated September 2026 · 768 words

Our video library, featuring the founder and the team who run each sale, answers how a company sale actually works: how the first meeting goes, how value is maximized, how risk is kept down and why some deals die in due diligence. This article gives the written version of those answers, so you can read them before you watch the videos.

How do you know an owner is ready to sell?

Readiness has two parts. The company is ready when it has two to three years of records that reconcile, profits that are stable or rising, and people who can run it without the owner in every decision. The owner is ready when they know what comes next for them, have agreed with any partners or family members, and accept that the market, not a personal target, sets the price. If either part is missing, the right advice is often to wait and prepare.

Owners often ask whether they should hold out for a better year. If results are rising, a buyer will pay for that trend now. If the owner is worn out and results are starting to slip, waiting usually costs more than it gains.

What happens in the discovery meeting

The first step is a free, confidential discovery meeting. We review three years of financial statements, ask how the business really runs and learn what you want from a sale: price, timing, your role after closing and what happens to your people. You leave with an opinion of value, expressed as a low-to-high range, and an honest view of whether we can sell the company for maximum value. If we do not believe we can, we say so and decline the engagement.

The meeting is also your chance to judge us. Ask who would run your sale, where buyers would come from, how the fee works and what could make your company harder to sell. The answers tell you as much about the firm as the opinion of value tells you about the company.

How value is maximized

Maximizing value means more than a higher headline. It also means negotiating the terms that decide what you keep: cash at closing versus money paid later, the level of working capital left in the business and the limits on the promises you make to the buyer. A higher price on weak terms can be worth less than a lower one on strong terms.

Price comes from competition and presentation, not from an asking figure. The ten steps of our sale process are built around three things:

• Presentation. A financial recast that shows true earnings, a confidential marketing package and a professionally produced HD marketing video for every company.
• Reach with control. Our own database of qualified individual buyers, capital groups and private equity groups first, and blind ads on the major marketplaces only if needed.
• Competition. Multiple letters of intent negotiated at the same time, each presented to you in person so you can accept, reject or counter.

How risk is kept down, and why deals die

Most deals that fail do so after the letter of intent, during due diligence, which is the buyer's detailed review of your finances, contracts, people and operations. The usual causes are earnings that cannot be verified, problems disclosed late, a drop in performance while the owner is distracted, and financing that was never secure. We address each before it appears: buyers prove their funding before seeing detail, known issues are disclosed early and the owner stays free to run the business. Our answer on what commonly causes a sale to fail in due diligence goes further.

Having documents organized in advance keeps due diligence on schedule and keeps the price where it was agreed. The other common cause is the owner's own second thoughts. Deciding early what you want, and what you will accept, keeps a good deal from stalling on emotion in the final weeks.

Who you will see on camera, and who runs your sale

The library includes our founder and CEO, Michael D. Rubin, on how a sale with the firm is run; Mike Mairs, our COO; and Tom LoChiatto, our VP of Video Production, on the marketing film made for each company. A principal of the firm is in every negotiation, and the firm has closed 250+ transactions since 2008 with a success rate above 90%. Whichever advisor you consider, those are fair tests: named closed deals, a senior person in the room and a fee that depends on closing. When you are ready to see where your company stands, begin with a free valuation snapshot.

Where this fitsSell your business in Texas →

Questions owners ask next

What should I bring to a discovery meeting?

Three years of financial statements and tax returns, current year-to-date results and a short note on what you want from a sale. A rough list of owner-specific or one-time expenses helps too, because those add-backs change adjusted earnings and therefore the opinion of value.

Does a high success rate mean my company will sell?

No number guarantees an outcome. A high rate partly reflects selectivity, because the firm declines companies it does not believe it can sell for maximum value. If we take your company on, it is because we believe it will sell, and we will tell you plainly what could get in the way.